Problem: In 24 years, Ashley will be 3 times as old as she is right now. How old is she right now?
Solution: We can use the given information to write down an equation about Ashley's age. Let Ashley's age be $a$ In 24 years, she will be $a + 24$ years old. At that time, she will also be $3 a$ years old. Writing this information as an equation, we get: $a + 24 = 3 a$ Solving for $a$ , we get: $2 a = 24$ $a = 12$.